The Brookhaven leader., 1887-04-28

cial establishments going to ruin through
| the social excess OF one or two mem bers,
| their fortune beaten to death with ball.
players bat or cut amidships with the
| prov OF the regatta, or going down under
the swift hoofs of the fast horses, or
drowned in the large potatious OF cognac
or Monongahela. That secret society was
the Loeb Earn. Thrir business was the
Vile de Havre. They struck, and the
Vile de Havre went under.
The third test by which you may know
whether the society TO which you belong
il good or bad is this: What is its effect
on your sense of moral and re.
lIgious obligationi Now, IL 1 should
take the names of all the people in
this audience this morning aud put
them on a roll, and then should lay that
roll back of this organ, and hundred
years from now some one should take that
roll and call ii from A TO Il there would
not one of you answer. ] say that auy SO
Ciety that makes m forget that fact Is b vi
society. When got Chicago am some
times pcrplexed at Buffalo, as suppose
many travellers are, as TO whether 1t is
better TO take the Lake Shore route or the
Michigan Central, equally expeditions and
co ually safe, getting to their destination
hear that on one route the track is torn
up, the bridges are down and the switches
are unlocked, it will not take me great
while to decide which road TO taxi
Now, there are two roads IN ia. future
the Christian ana the unchTisti IN. the
safe and the unsafe ANY institution or
any association that ConfuSCs my teas in
regard to that fact is bad institution and
bad association. | had prayers before |
Joined that society; did | have them ar
terward! l attended the house of God
before | connected myself with that
union; do | absent myself from religious
influenccsl Which would yn rather
have in your hand when you come TO die
"a pack of cards or a Bibci Which
would you rather have pressed to your
lips in the closing moment-thc cup Of
Belshaz.arsan wassail or the chalic5 OF
Christian communionl Who would you
rather have for your pal-bearcrs-the
elders of Christian church
or the companions whose con-
versation was full of slang
and Innuendol Who would You rather
have for your eternal ompaniOns-those
men who spend their evenings betting,
gambling, swearing. carousing and tell
ing vile stories, or your little child, that
bright little girl whom the Lord took Oh,
you would not have been away so much
nights, would you, if you h I'd known she
was going away so soon! Dear me- your
house has never been the same place
since. Your wife has never frightened
up, she has never got over it. She will
never get over it. How long the evenings
are with no one to put to bed and no
ono to whom to tell the beautiful Bible
stories.
What pity it i; that you can not spend
more evenings at home in trying to help
her bear that sorrow You can never
drown that grief in a wine cup. You can
never break away from the little arms
that used to be flung around your neck
when she used to sayi
Papa. do stay with me tonight. Do
stay with me tonight"
You will never be able to wipe away
from your lips the dying kiss of your lit
Ito girl. The fascination of bad secret
society is so great that sometimes man
has turned his back on his home when his
child was dying of scarlet fever. He
went away. Before he got back at
midnight the eyes had been closed,
the undertaken had done his work,
and the wife, worn out with three weeks
watching, lay uncon scious in the next
room. Then the returned father comes
p-stairs, and he sees the cradle gone
and the windows up, and says:
whats the natter
On the judgment day he will find out
what was the matter.
On, man astrav, God help You! l am
going to make a very stout rope. You
know that some times 4 ropc-maker will
take very small threads and wind them
together until after awhile they become a
ship cable. And | am going to take some
very small, delicate threads and wind
them together until they make a
very stout rope. | will take all the
memories of the marriage day-a thread
of laug liter, a thread of light, thread of
music, a thread of banQueting, a thread
of congratulation, and l twist them to-
gether and have one strand. Then !
talte a thread of the hour of the first ad
vent in your house, 4 thread of the dark
ness that preceded, and a thread of the
light that followed, and q thread of the
beautiful scarf that little child used TO
wear when she bounded out at eventide
to greet you, and then thread of the
beautiful dress in which you laid her away
for the resurrection; and then l twist all
these threads together, and l have
another strand. Then i take a thread
Of the scarlet robe Of suf-
fering Christ, and thread of
the white raiment of your loved ones be-
fore the throne, and a string of the harp
cherubic, and string Of the harp seraph.
ic, and l twist them all together, and ]
have third strand.
ooh" you say, ''either strand is enough
to hold fast worldr'
No: will take these strands and will
twist them together, and one end of that
rope l will fasten, not to the communion
table, for it shall be removed; not to a
pillar Of the organ, for that will crumblc
in the ages; but l wind it round and
round the cross of a sympathiZing Christ,
and, having fastened one end Of the rope
to the cross, throw the other end to you.
Lay hold of it! Pull for your life! Pull
for Heaven!
The Giggiing Age.